We’ve just learned that 45nm AMD CPUs such as Shanghai, Deneb, Propus and the like will be the last Silicon On Insulator (SOI) parts for AMD.

After 45nm, there won’t be any SOI process and 32nm for both IBM and AMD. This will mean the return to Bulk process with High-K in mind. Intel is using High-K for a while for its 65nm and 45nm and probably even for the previous CPUs. High-K, as everything else in life, had its good sides and bad sides, SOI made sense for some previous CPUs, and that is why IBM and AMD have decided to go down that road. After 45nm SOI loses its effect, and its biggest benefit from this process was at 90nm, where AMD could score great clocks and superb yields for its K8 processors.